Stately Homes – Number One London

WHAT MAKES A CASTLE A CASTLE?

*CAVEAT FOR THIS SERIES OF POSTS*

This series of posts will endeavor to explain the different categories and names given to the various historical homes in England. There are specific criteria that define each type of home by the reasons for which it was built and the purpose it served in the lives of those who lived there. However, these designations are not written in stone (pun not really intended,) and they often changed over time based on additions made to them, renovations, architectural design alterations, and changes of ownership. So a manor house could become a stately home or a country house. A castle could become a manor house. A stately home could be called a castle—just ask Castle Howard. Add to that the names by which these homes were known—Chatsworth House, Lyme Park, Shugborough Hall and it can all be a bit confusing. The purpose of this series of posts is to give the reader a sort of guide from which to start when identifying the historic homes of England and perhaps to understand why and when they came to be. Names are important, especially to living, breathing beings, and these marvelous places are indeed very much alive.

What is a castle?

One would think the answer to that question would be fairly obvious. A castle is…well, a castle! Something like the one pictured above – Warwick Castle. Towers, turrets, drawbridges, big, imposing, and made of stone. In truth there is far more to a castle than that. However, for the purposes of basic architectural identification for a building to be deemed a castle there are a few things to consider.

When was it built?

Generally speaking castles in the UK were built between the 11th and 17th centuries. Sort of. There are several candidates for the oldest castle in the UK. If one counts fortresses built from or on the ruins of Roman forts an entirely separate group of edifices is included in the count. Some of the oldest castles in the UK include:

The Tower of London – Built in the 1070s by William the Conqueror the Tower is considered the oldest intact castle in the UK.

Porchester Castle – Built in the 3rd century portions of this castle are still inhabitable, which is another criterion to consider when labeling a building a castle.

Porchester Castle

Beeston Castle – Begun in the 1220s by Ranulf, Earl of Chester, one of the greatest barons of Henry III’s England, this castle was built on a site that was occupied and used as a fortress since the Bronze Age. The best-preserved part of the castle, the inner bailey, commands extensive views across eight counties, from the Welsh Mountains to the west to the Pennines in the east.

Pevensey Castle – Built in 280 on the ruins of a Roman Saxon fort.

The Oldest Castles in England

Rank	Castle Name	Year Constructed	Location
1	Berkhamsted Castle	1067	Berkhamsted
2	Norwich Castle	1067	Norwich
3	Warwick Castle	1068	Warwick
4	Lincoln Castle	1068	Lincoln
5	Colchester Castle	1069	Colchester
6	Windsor Castle	1070	Windsor
7	Richmond Castle	1071	Richmond
8	Hedingham Castle	1086	Castle Hedingham
9	Carlisle Castle	1122	Carlisle
10	Rochester Castle	1127	Rochester
11	Newcastle Castle	1172	Newcastle upon Tyne
12	Oakham Castle	1180	Oakham, Rutland
13	York Castle	1265	York, Yorkshire
14	Dover Castle	11th Century; exact date unknown	Dover
15	Portchester Castle	11th Century; exact date unknown	Portchester
16	Lancaster Castle	11th Century; exact date unknown	Lancaster

You get the picture. Castles in the UK were and are buildings built before the first manor houses and definitely before the first stately homes and palaces. Are there older castles and palaces in the world? Of course. But this post is about those that can be found in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Most of the castles were built after the arrival of William the Conqueror and were built as the center of the feudal government he established.

What was its purpose?

In the previous post we discussed the purpose of a stately home (showing off) and the purpose of a manor house (a house for the master and a seat of local government.) A castle served two basic purposes – a home for the lord (or laird in Scotland) and its primary purpose – a place that offered security, protection and a base of military operations.

Now as the home of the lord a castle might also serve as the seat of local government for the lord’s fiefdom. However, the main purpose of a castle was as a place of safety and security for the lord, his family, his entourage and army, and the people of his fiefdom – in that order. During the heyday of castles and the feudal system a great deal of fighting went on between the various lords, between the various factions under the reign of the king, and between families and clans that just didn’t get along. A castle offered a place to withdraw and fight it out.

And therein lies the main criterion for the designation castle. A castle was a building originally built fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat. More often than not the windows, when there were windows, were slits through which one might fire an arrow, but not much more.

Of course there is more to an actual castle than that, but we will save the dissection of the parts of a British castle for another post.

But…what about those places that don’t look even remotely like a castle but are called castle?

Well these “castles” came to be called castle for one or both of two reasons.

Castles that aren’t suited for battle are called castles because they were built on top of an old castle.
Any castle rebuild or renovation in the UK after the 18^th century had the sole purpose of making something grand and fancy. And after the beatifications the owners chose to keep the name “castle.”

In other words, if one has the money, and one builds a house grand enough, one can pretty much call said house whatever one wants. Within reason. Are you going to tell the guy whose house looks like this:

he cannot call his house a castle? I think not !

In our next post we will discuss When Is a Palace Not a Palace?

Louisa

Osterley Park, An Adam Jewel

by Victoria Hinshaw

Osterley Park was once a rural retreat but today it is in Greater London, reachable by the tube (look for the Osterley stop on the Piccadilly line). The original Tudor mansion was built in 1575 by Sir Thomas Gresham, banker and founder of the Royal Exchange. The old house was built of red brick around a square courtyard. After considerable alterations in the 17th century, it was acquired by Francis Child, the immensely wealthy London banker, in 1713. His grandson Francis hired Robert Adam to transform the house in 1761 but he died before the house was finished, leaving the house to his brother Robert Child.

Adam’s work was completed in 1780. The center of the west section of the building was removed by Adam and replaced with a giant white Ionic portico.

The elegant portico opens up the courtyard.

Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey

The 5th Earl of Jersey (1773-1859) became the owner of Osterley Park by way of his marriage to Robert Child’s granddaughter, Sarah Sophia Fane, the Lady Jersey who was a patroness of Almack’s. The story of the young heiress is well known, the second elopement of a Child female.

Robert Child’s daughter (Sarah Anne Child) had eloped with John Fane, later 10th Earl of Westmorland, in 1782. Robert Child (1739-82), proud of being a prince of the merchant class and not an aristocrat, did not want his property and fortune to go to the Westmorland family. He wrote a will which left his money and property to the second child of his daughter. Sarah Sophia Fane inherited everything at age eight. In 1804, she married George Villiers, who changed his name (a necessity under Child’s will) to Child-Villiers and in time became the 5th Earl of Jersey. He was the son of that Countess of Jersey who was a mistress of the Prince Regent.

The Osterley house was rarely used by the Jerseys, who had a country estate, Middleton, in Oxfordshire in addition to a large townhouse in Berkeley Square. For decades Osterley was maintained but empty of life. The Jerseys entertained there only occassionally. Eventually it was let to Sarah’s cousin, Grace Caroline, dowager Duchess of Cleveland, a daughter of the 9th Earl of Westmorland. When she died, the 7th Earl of Jersey and his wife Margaret (1849-1945) lived and entertained there. The Lesson of the Master, a novella by Henry James, is set at Osterley.

In 1885, the famous library was sold for thirteen thousand pounds. After the 7th earl died in 1915, the tenancy of the house foundered again. For many years, it was rarely used until the 9th Earl opened it to the public on weekends. He gave it to the National Trust in 1949 and considerable restoration has taken place. It was recently used for some scenes in the film Gulliver’s Travels and has been in numerous other movies and television productions.

The rooms are arranged in a horseshoe, with the entrance hall at the top. After walking through the exterior portico, one crosses the courtyard and enters the magnificent hall, designed by Adam in 1767. The color scheme is neutral, greys and whites with stucco panels of ancient military scenes on the walls. The floor has a black pattern on white marble, a reflection of the plasterwork ceiling design.

The Breakfast Room at Osterley Park, Middlesex. The harpsichord was made for Sarah Anne Child in 1781 by Jacob Kirckman and his nephew Abraham. The lyre-back chairs are attributed to John Linnell.

The Breakfast Room has a lovely view of the park and was used as a sitting room, graced by Adam’s arched pier glasses. This room was redone in the 19th century, but the colors and some furniture is to Adam’s design. The drawing for this design is in Sir John Soane’s museum, London, as are many Adam designs. It is dated 24 April 1777. The room also contains a harpsichord of 1781, made by Jacob Kirckman and his nephew Abraham, who were well known for their instruments. It belonged to Sarah Sophia’s mother, the countess of Westmorland. After her death in 1793, her husband asked to have it sent to him as a memento of his wife; it was returned to Osterley in 1805.

The Tapestry Room was designed to hold a set of magnificent Gobelins tapestries designed by Francois Boucher depicting the Loves of the Gods. Several Adam rooms for other clients were decorated similarly, with the tapestries ordered from the Gobelins factory in Paris, which was run in the 1770’s by a Scot. The sofa and eight matching armchairs were specially created and upholstered to match the tapestries.

The magnificent ceiling is another Adam masterpiece. The central medallion shows Minerva accepting the dedication of a child. The four smaller medallions show female representations of the liberal arts. As was the usual practice, these paintings were done on paper, affixed to canvas backing and placed in stucco frames after the ceiling was painted.

Kristine, admiring and photographing the Osterley Park ceilings.

A self portrait by Angelica Kauffman. She did many paintings for Adam, often in her well-known allegorical style. In an era when most of the artists were men, Kauffman (1741-1807) excelled at portraiture and even huge historical and allegorical paintings. Born in Switzerland, she found great success in England. In 1781, she married her colleague Antonio Zucchi (1726-95) and the couple went to live in Rome. Adam had met Zucchi in Rome and persuaded him to come to England in 1766. Zucchi also executed many paintings for Adam rooms, often in ceiling medallions or above doors and fireplaces.

In the State Bedchamber stands a huge bed, made to the Adam’s design in 1776. The drawing is also in the Soane museum. Not only did Adam design the bed, he designed the hangings and embroidered silk counterpane and the interior of the dome. Included in the design are many allegorical symbols, including marigolds, the emblem of Child’s Bank. In this room is another of the exquisite ceilings by Kauffman.

The Etruscan Room Dressing Room shows Adam utilizing ancient designs discovered in Italy. At that time, the term Etruscan referred to the types of designs found on Greek vases. Horace Walpole in 1778 said the room was “painted all over like Wedgwood’s ware, with black and yellow small grotesques.” The furniture is attributed to Chippendale.

The Childs had spent a great deal of time developing the gardens and the park with lakes, wildernesses and open space. Fortunately, these also survive and have been restored. Under the supervision of the National Trust, the park is open to the public and is well used by hikers, strollers, bicyclists and bird watchers.

A visit to Osterley Park is on the itinerary of Number One London’s Town & Country House tour in May, 2024. Complete itinerary and full details can be found here.

SYON HOUSE

by Victoria Hinshaw

The Percy family, now dukes of Northumberland, have lived at Syon House for many years. To follow the fortunes of the Percy family is to travel the twists and turns of British history. From their arrival with William the Conqueror in the 11th century, they held a stronghold at Alnwick Castle in far Northumberland and frequently ran into conflicts with the English kings. Because of their support for Mary Queen of Scots, they were commanded to live in the south, at their property at Petworth in Sussex. There were many periods of imprisonment in the Tower for various earls over the centuries.

In its first few centuries, Syon seemed to exist under a dark cloud. Lord Somerset died on the scaffold before it was finished; Lady Jane Grey resided here; it served as a prison for the children of Charles I for a time.

Syon came to the Percy family through the marriage of Henry Percy (1564- 1632) to Lady Dorothy Devereux (d. 1619), a sister of Robert, Earl of Essex, a favorite of Elizabeth I. From a previous marriage, Lady Dorothy owned the lease to the valuable Syon estate. When James I came to the throne, he gave Syon outright to Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland. In 1605 the 9th earl himself landed in the Tower, where he lived for sixteen years, improving his estates and studying scientific topics from his prison. He was known as the Wizard Earl for his many interests in science and the occult. His wife Dorothy regularly sent him baskets of fruits from the Syon orchards.

By 1764, Syon was still basically a Tudor mansion, looking much as it had when first built in 1547, a courtyard house that offered many challenges to bring up to current taste. The 3rd duke, who succeeded in 1817, rebuilt the walls of the house in Bath stone, and built the conservatory. He entertained “lavishly” at Syon during the reign of William IV and was succeeded by his brother Algernon in 1847. Their descendants today still live at Syon, the family of the 11th Duke, Henry Alan Walter Richard Percy.

From the website: Robert Adam and ‘Capability’ Brown

“The 7th Duke of Somerset died in 1750, and Hugh and Elizabeth, who were to become the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, inherited the estates. They were leading figures in contemporary society, and would have inherited a house with dated interiors, surrounded by an unfashionable formal landscape. Gardens and House were both in a poor condition.

“The solution was a complete redesign of Syon. In one of his first major commissions, the landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown swept away the formal landscape to the south and west of the House, replacing it with the open views characteristic of the English Landscape movement. Over the course of twenty years he extended this to the north and west, incorporating farmland to the west into the new park, and creating Pleasure Grounds to the north, both centred on large new ornamental lakes. In the House the Scottish architect Robert Adam was commissioned to create a series of striking classical interiors, filled with antiquities shipped from Italy. Adam was not able to change the interior layout of the House, and so used a number of architectural devices to create a suitable impression.”

Following a carefully designed route through Capability Brown’s Park, then through a monumental portico, one enters the Great Hall.

The visitor experiences a dramatic contrast when stepping into the Ante-Room after the subdued serenity of the Hall.

The floor is scagliola (composition of ground marble, plaster and glue often seen on tabletops) in brilliant colors, perfectly preserved and highly polished. Some of the marble columns were found in the Tiber River in Rome and brought to Syon. Others are copies, also made of scagliola. The columns serve to square off the room size and to provide bases for the gilded statues, all reproductions of ancient figures. It is difficult to underestimate the dazzling effect of standing in this room, which I am tempted to describe as gaudy, though it also has a unity of color and beauty that actually give it a different but equally impressive dignity as the Great Hall.

After the brilliant colors of the ante room, the dining room is almost restrained in its gilded elegance. From the Ante-Room, on the corner of the house, one steps into the ivory and gold magnificence of the Dining Room, a perfect example of classic Adam style. Columns, apses, antique statues, and gilt combine with the rich wooden flooring in a pleasing pattern. Adam rarely used soft materials in his eating rooms because carpets, curtains, tapestries and other hangings could absorb food odors. Cleverly concealed in the doorways are compartments holding the dining tables, which were set up for meals and removed for dancing or other activities, while some of the statue bases conceal chamberpots.

The Red Drawing Room was described by Adam as a buffer to the real Withdrawing Room for the ladies, which was in the next chamber, the Gallery, now the Library. The walls are of red Spitalfields silk, while diamonds and octagons on the ceiling contrast with the painted medallions with gilded banding.

The Long Gallery was intended by Adam for the use of the ladies. The Tudor room is 136 feet long with a width and height of only 14 feet. Adam solved the size and shape problem by softening the colors to pastel mauves and greens, installing shallow bookcases and clustering the tapestry-upholstered furniture in what we would call conversation groups. There is a unity of design elements as well, with decorative swags on the walls, flat pilasters separating the bookshelves, and a pleasing pattern of geometric shapes, as in the ceiling. When I visited this room, I found it astonishingly beautiful, yet comfortable. As I gazed at the titles on the shelves, the Duke himself came by, showing the collection to a visitor.

At the far end of the library, there is a little closet, once the site of the corner spiral staircase, now long gone. In this little room, decorated in delicate pinks and grays, hangs a birdcage holding a mechanical bird which spreads his wings and warbles on the hour. The bottom of the cage is the clock’s face, not a particularly practical place to put it, if you ask me. It is known as one of Adam’s conceits. Nevertheless, the “closet” serves the role of early closets for kings and dukes — a private room holding favorite collections and offering the closest thing to privacy a great personage could experience. Ah, the trials and tribulations of fame and fortune!

Syon Park and House are on the itinerary of Number One London’s Town and Country House Tour in May 2024. You can find further details and the complete itinerary here.

Wonderful Waddesdon Manor

I recently visited Waddesdon Manor with a mind to adding it to the itinerary of Number One London’s upcoming Town & Country House Tour. The French Renaissance château was built in the 19th century by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild and I’m pleased to report that it did not disappoint. The house, the collections, the gardens and outbuildings combined to serve as a most unique whole. In fact, Waddesdon is now right up there beside Chatsworth House as my personal favourite country houses in England.

Baron Rothschild, a dedicated Francophile, employed a French architect who created rooms using wall panels taken from Parisian houses of the 1700s. He then filled the house with treasures that once belonged to French royalty. Rothschild lavished Waddesdon’s rooms with paintings, carpets and porcelain to rival any museum on either side of the Channel. All of which was only seen on summer weekends by a few of the Baron’s close circle. Waddesdon was never a family home, it was only ever meant to be an occasional country retreat.

On the approach to the Manor, it would be difficult not to be awed by the fabulous grounds, gardens and architectural details. Or by the attention to the smallest detail that is regularly given to the Manor, evident at every turn.

Waddesdon Manor is unique in that The Rothschild Foundation continues to manage the property on behalf of the National Trust, as well as providing the majority of the funding for its upkeep.

The interiors are likewise impressive, beginning with the dining room, which resembles Versailles in miniature.

The dinner service below is comprised of over 400 pieces of porcelain as service for twenty-four people. Although it was a gift from King Louis XV to an Austrian prince in 1766, it was used by the family until the 1980s.

With more than 15,000 works of art and objects, the collection ranges widely in date, materials and techniques, and places of production. Each of the rooms at Waddesdon serve as backdrops for the priceless pieces on display.

Something that becomes immediately apparent to visitors is that Waddesdon’s staff truly care about the guest experience. There’s at least one docent in every room . . . and they know their stuff. They are genuinely friendly and engaged. Waddesdon Manor even encourages visitors to touch, with “touch boards” dotted along the route, each focused on a different architectural component of the Manor.

As one would expect, conservation is constantly being undertaken at Waddesdon.

One of the final areas on the tour are the ornate Bachelors Quarters, where single men visitors were housed at weekends. Any gentleman who arrived alone, whether actually married or not, was assigned a room in this wing of the Manor. Very Victorian, indeed.

The present Baron Rothschild continues to collect art and porcelain, mostly contemporary. This chandelier was specially commissioned in 2003 by Lord Rothschild for the Blue Dining Room and looks surprisingly at home against the walls of 18^th-century carved panelling.

I’m pleased to add Waddesdon Manor to our roster of historic stately homes and I look forward to introducing our group to Waddesdon during Number One London’s upcoming Town & Country House tour, May 2024. Complete tour itinerary and further details can be found here.

Please watch the videos below to learn more about Waddesdon Manor’s art collection and aviary.

A STEP BACK IN TIME: INTERIORS OF THE ROYAL PAVILION AND CARLTON HOUSE

Anyone interested in Regency London will want to know about the work of British photographer Ashley Hicks, the son of Lady Pamela Hicks and the legendary interior designer David Hicks, who was granted ten days to shoot the opulent drawing rooms, halls, and corridors of Buckingham Palace. His photos afterwards appeared in his lavish 2018 book, below.

Hicks also filmed a three part documentary, Buckingham Palace: The Interiors, which likewise features many of his photos. While there have been many documentaries about Buck House, what sets this one apart and above others is Ashley Hicks. You should really watch all three parts of the documentary – Hicks’s insider knowledge and passion for the Palace’s interiors shine through and his narrative is engaging and filled with historical tidbits.

Part III will especially appeal to Regency aficianados (linked below), as it deals with the parts of the Palace interiors that have connections to both the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and to Carlton House. Hicks’s photographs of George IV’s furniture, musical instruments and objet d’art are presented side by side with contemporary drawings of the interiors of both the Pavilion and Carlton House, giving the viewer the opportunity to virtually revisit both buildings, whilst historic anecdotes abound as Hicks provides background to each of the items. Enjoy!